Sharks' Niemi Gets No Support In Series: Antti Niemi made 24 shots in a 3-1 series-ending loss to the Blues on Saturday night. He allowed two goals. (Updated 04/21/2012)
Injury Report
No information available at this time (Updated 5/27/12).
Fantasy Analysis
He won the first game in the series, but then came out on the losing side of the next four. His teammates just didn't provide him with a lot of support this series -- they were shut out in one of those losses and managed just a single goal in two others. (Updated 04/21/2012).
04/17/2012 01:35 Blues withstand late rally, beat Sharks
Andy McDonald scored one goal and set up another in the second period to help the St. Louis Blues regain home-ice advantage in their first-round series against San Jose by beating the Sharks 4-3 in Game 3 on Monday night.
04/14/2012 22:44 Blues get physical in shutout of Sharks to tie series at 1-1
Brian Elliott and Jaroslav Halak combined for a shutout, the San Jose Sharks put themselves in an early hole when Marc-Edouard Vlasic tapped the puck into his own net and the St. Louis Blues evened the first-round series at a game apiece with a 3-0 victory Saturday night.
04/14/2012 22:44 Blues get physical in shutout of Sharks to tie first-round series at 1-1
Brian Elliott and Jaroslav Halak combined for a shutout, the San Jose Sharks put themselves in an early hole when Marc-Edouard Vlasic tapped the puck into his own net and the St. Louis Blues evened the first-round series at a game apiece with a 3-0 victory Saturday night.
04/14/2012 20:16 Sharks' Marc-Edouard Vlasic helps Blues score first in Game 2
The Blues can defend, we all know that, but the lingering question is can they score enough in the playoffs? Well it helps when they are getting help from the enemies.
A few months after his Stanley Cup win with the Blackhawks, Niemi brought his talents to the Bay Area by signing a one-year, $2 million contract with the Sharks. It was a curious move, as the team had already signed fellow Finnish netminder, Antero Niittymaki, to a two-year contract earlier in the offseason. What started as an evenly distributed workload eventually rolled in Niemi's favor as his fellow countryman sustained a groin injury in January that opened the door for Niemi to become the No. 1 choice for starts. Niemi never looked back and remained the undisputed starter through the end of the postseason. His numbers were rock solid in the end, as he posted a 35-18-6 record, 2.38 goals-against average, .920 save percentage and six shutouts. The team re-upped with Niemi in March of 2011, extending his contract for four years and $15.2 million. There is no denying Niemi's importance to the Sharks, and fantasy owners should be happy with his gaudy win totals and peripheral stats for years to come. (Updated 10/4/11)
